Contrary to reports that he will be directing the next two Star Wars film, Johnson will direct only Episode VIII, but he is writing a treatment for Episode IX.

Ram Bergman will produce Episode VIII.

Johnson has directed three feature films. His directorial debut, Brick, won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. He followed that up with 2008's Brothers Bloom and 2012's time-jumping sci-fi action-drama Looper, starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII

This morning, The Walt Disney Studios announced new release dates for upcoming films from two of its major franchises.

Star Wars: Episode VIII, originally scheduled for release on May 26, 2017, will now debut on December 15, 2017. The move follows the extraordinary success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which was the first Star Wars movie to premiere in December. In the popular holiday moviegoing corridor, it smashed numerous records, including biggest domestic and global debuts of all time as well as the biggest domestic second and third weekends, en route to becoming the highest grossing domestic release of all time with over $861M and the third biggest global release ever with $1.887B.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Star Wars: Episode VIII is currently in pre-production and will begin principal photography in London next month. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman will produce and J.J. Abrams, Tom Karnowski, and Jason McGatlin will executive produce. Stay tuned to StarWars.com for exciting updates in the coming weeks.

There was already speculation that Avatar 2 wasn’t going to meet the estimated release when Star Wars: Episode VIII moved to December 15th, 2017, a full seven months after the previously planned May 2017 release date. Disney clearly knew they weren’t going to have any major competition at the box office and also wanted that Christmas money for their merchandise release. Plus, there’s no way Disney would willingly take on Avatar 2 with the chance of having a smaller IMAX screen count, especially when there’s an Avatar installment planned for their theme parks.

So perhaps now that Star Wars: Episode VIII has laid claim to December for at least the next couple years, 20th Century Fox will take Avatar 2 to the summer of 2018 with the third and fourth movies following in 2019 and 2020. As of now Fox isn’t making any new date estimates, and it’s probably best to just let Cameron make the movies and then figure out when to release them when they’re done.

In the end, the fact that it’s taking this long for Avatar 2 to come to fruition isn’t all that surprising. James Cameron first announced Avatar as a future project of his in 1996, and audiences didn’t get to see it until 2009. Hopefully fans won’t have to wait 13 years for Avatar 2, though at this point they’ve already waited a little over six, so what’s another seven years?

Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII

So excited to find out the character Benicio del Toro plays in the movie (SW VIII)! Some rumor suggest its Ezra from Star Wars: Rebels, albeit an older version (and supposedly turned to the Dark Side) since the movie is on a timeline that's decades away from the TV series Star Wars: Rebels.
It would be EPIC! The main movies, and the tv series, and Rogue One -- all tangled. And everything connects and stuffs. I can't wait!

Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII

Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII

The Force went dark yesterday when Carrie Fisher at the age of 60 left us...
She had completed her work on Episode VIII, but she was planned to be in Episode IX as well, and now it remains to be seen what they will do with those plans.http://variety.com/2016/film/news/ca...-8-1201948826/

"Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways on Star Wars: Episode IX. Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ. We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon," read a Lucasfilm statement.

Rumors of Trevorrow’s departure have dogged the project since early June, weeks before the opening of The Book of Henry, his thriller that was panned by critics and failed at the box office.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that script issues have continued to be a sore spot throughout Episode IX’s development, with Trevorrow having repeated stabs at multiple drafts. In August, Jack Thorne, the British scribe who wrote the upcoming Julia Roberts-Jacob Tremblay movie Wonder, was tapped to work on the script.

Sources say that the working relationship between Trevorrow and Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy became unmanageable. Kennedy, who had already been through one director firing/replacement on the Han Solo spinoff movie, was not eager for a sequel and tried to avoid this decision.

In June, Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired from the Han Solo stand-alone with only a few weeks left in principal photography. The two were later replaced by Ron Howard, who is finishing out production in London.

Rumors are already circulating as to possible replacements for Trevorrow. Rian Johnson, who is in post for The Last Jedi (Episode VIII), has been mentioned as a possibility, returning to the franchise. J.J. Abrams, who successfully helmed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, has also emerged as a top contender.

Trevorrow's departure now marks the fourth time directors have been replaced on a Star Wars project. Tony Gilroy took over from Gareth Edwards for massive reshoots on 2016's Rogue One. And Josh Trank was taken off of a Star Wars anthology film after reports arose about the helmer's disturbing behavior on the set of Fox's Fantastic Four reboot. Like Trank, Trevorrow's exit occured before the movie has started shooting.

Trevorrow first made waves with Sundance hit Safety Not Guaranteed. The indie sci-fi dramedy caught the attention of Steven Spielberg and Universal, who put Trevorrow at the helm of the Jurassic Park reboot, Jurassic World. The movie went on to gross a mammoth $1.6 billion at the global box office. After that success, the director was tapped to write and direct Episode IX, the supposed end to the Skywalker saga that would follow Johnson's The Last Jedi (due out Dec. 15).

Trevorrow has several projects in various stages of development, including a Jurassic World follow-up, which he co-wrote and executive produced. Prior to getting Episode IX, Trevorrow was attached to direct Intelligent Life, a sci-fi thriller set up at Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment that he wrote with writing partner Derek Connolly. (Rebecca Thomas has since taken over as director.)

Back in July, THR spoke to Trevorrow at the Ischia Global Film and Music Fest and asked about the then-recent Lord and Miller exit from the Han Solo film. "Movies are very personal, and art is very personal, and for people to try to turn that into something that is salacious or something that will get clicks is frustrating and sad for me because I know that [movies] mean a lot to everyone involved," he said. "And everybody involved in that movie is passionate about it and worked on it very hard and continues to work on it very hard."

Re: Star Wars: Episode IX

EXCLUSIVE: Put Rian Johnson atop the short list of directors who might replace the recently departed Colin Trevorrow in Star Wars: Episode IX. Insiders said that nothing is done yet, but that prospect is certainly in the air right now. The Looper helmer fit seamlessly into the Lucasfilm machine, which is no small feat given the number of star directors who’ve been chewed up and spat out under the “creative difference” line in exiting Star Wars movies.

Deadline was first to tell you that Ron Howard was top choice to replace Phil Lord & Chris Miller as director of the Han Solo spinoff movie, and that came to pass. If Johnson, who directed the December 15-launching Star Wars: The Last Jedi, does in fact come back to take the reins of the next movie, it would somehow seem like destiny. When Deadline revealed that the Looper helmer was being hired to take on Star Wars, the original intention was for him to direct two movies. Stay tuned. It might come to pass.

The other takeaway regarding the exit of Trevorrow, it is that when it comes to the billion-dollar Disney silo machine, the auteur director takes a back seat to the star studio chief. In this collision of art and extreme commerce, directors who are changeable are the ones who succeed in these kinds of films. We’ve seen Marvel’s Kevin Feige replace directors of Marvel superhero movies and rule with an authoritative my-way-or-the-highway mind-set that has led to an unprecedented string of audience-pleasing blockbuster hits. We are seeing the same thing with Kathy Kennedy on the Lucasfilm side. We’ve now seen the Jurassic World helmer Trevorrow follow Lord and Miller out the door, which followed the previous exit of Josh Trank. And the sort-of exit of Gareth Edwards, who completed principal photography on the spinoff Rogue One, but it is the worst kept secret in Hollywood that Tony Gilroy supervised the directing of the re-shoots that put Rogue One back on track as another billion-dollar grossing Star Wars film.

Lord & Miller are being mentioned to possibly return to direct the DC pic The Flash (though Robert Zemeckis has also been mentioned for that film); maybe Trevorrow will step back in and direct the Jurassic World sequel? The Star Wars director fallout is creating a lot of intrigue around town.

Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII

We just saw from the latest Darth Vader comic book how the Sith turn their light saber blades red, based on the new Disney-canon.

So basically they have to take a Jedi’s light saber by first killing a Jedi (that’s the tradition) and then focusing their dark energy on the saber crystal until it BLEEDS.

Does this then mean that Kylo Ren’s saber was not something he inherited, but was something that he had to take from a light force wielder? Was it so much that his dark energy not only caused the crystal to bleed but also crack resulting to his unstable blade?

Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII

I don’t know what the deal is between Disney and Lucas. The latter must still hold rights to the names, and Disney has to pay Lucas royalties for using words like “Sith” or “Jedi” every time. So we’re seeing Disney veering away from those names.

Beginning in Episode VII Disney’s no longer using the term “Sith.” And in the Episode VIII trailer we hear Luke saying “The Jedi must end.”

Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII

Originally Posted by Razor

I don’t know what the deal is between Disney and Lucas. The latter must still hold rights to the names, and Disney has to pay Lucas royalties for using words like “Sith” or “Jedi” every time. So we’re seeing Disney veering away from those names.

Beginning in Episode VII Disney’s no longer using the term “Sith.” And in the Episode VIII trailer we hear Luke saying “The Jedi must end.”

Since Disney owns Lucasfilm Ltd, I don't think they pay any royalties to that company at all, cause that would be like giving money to yourself.

Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII

Originally Posted by frolunda71

Since Disney owns Lucasfilm Ltd, I don't think they pay any royalties to that company at all, cause that would be like giving money to yourself.

I know that would be the natural reaction of most people. But that's not always the case. For example DC comics still has to pay the family of the deceased Superman creator royalties most of the time they use the character because the deceased creator owned the rights to the Superman costume (and now such rights transferred to his family).

DC wanted to break free from this which is why they always do these 'newer' versions of Superman gimmick in the comic books giving him a slightly different variation of costume each time. But the original is still the most popular so they always had to revert to it -- something they don't own the rights to. They own the character but not the most popular costume he wears.

Now we're seeing Disney do the same -- deliberately moving away from names like Jedi and Sith.